In the world of branded merch, “urgent” can mean practically anything. Maybe a client forgot their event is next week or a supplier changes an in-hands date. Or maybe your boss needs updated sales numbers stat. The requests keep coming, but not all of them are truly pressing issues. If you drop everything to respond to every request, you’ll lose focus and feel like you’re constantly putting out fires.
Karin Hurt and David Dye, the founders of Let’s Grow Leaders, say there’s a better way. In this issue of PromoPro Daily, we share their ideas for handling urgent requests without losing your cool.
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Create a “break glass in case of chaos” plan. Building a standard playbook can help you know what to do when last-minute requests hit your inbox. For example, you might drop everything if it’s a client emergency but if it’s a team question, you could defer to the group chat.
Clarify the request. Dye and Hurt say you need to know what you’re agreeing to do. Instead of diving in blindly, make sure you understand what’s needed. For example, you could follow up with a simple message like, “Just to be sure I’m clear, you need a three-slide summary by 2 PM for the client update, right?” This keeps you from working in the dark and makes you look calm and competent, they say.
Master the art of the pause. Maybe you’re in the middle of a Zoom call when a message pops up requesting you to review a sales deck before noon. Instead of immediately reviewing the deck, Hurt and Dye recommend buying some time. Say, “Give me 30 minutes to wrap up this call and I’ll take a look.”
Reinforce and align priorities. They call this the “priority shuffle.” If your boss sends you 3 tasks in an hour and they’re all marked urgent, you can feel your focus shifting. Dye and Hurt recommend pausing and minding your MIT, or your Most Important Task. This is the task with the highest impact.
Triage your requests using a decision filter. According to Hurt and Dye, this helps you prioritize effectively. Think about what happens if something doesn’t get done now. Is it truly urgent or just loud? And consider if you’re the best person to handle it. Triaging requests doesn’t mean you’re saying no, they say. It means you’re saying, “Let’s be smart.”
Delegate what you can. Delegation isn’t laziness, according to Dye and Hurt. It’s leadership. If you’re juggling 6 things and a seventh lands on your plate, think about who on your team might be able to take the lead instead.
Unexpected requests will still happen, but you get to decide which ones get your attention first. When you learn to prioritize instead of panic, you’ll serve your clients better and make more progress on the work that matters most.
Compiled by Audrey Sellers
Source: Karin Hurt and David Dye are the founders of Let’s Grow Leaders. They’re leadership development program teachers, international keynote speakers and the authors of five books.
